Theme plays a very important role in the development of the short story titled “Lust” by Susan Minot. “Lust” is set in the 1960’s and early 1970’s when young women began experimenting with their personal freedoms. Unlike many authors, Minot does not give the main character, who is also the narrator a name or a face. The narrator has conflicting feelings regarding her sexual encounters that help show how empty she truly feels. The theme of the short story appears to be that people believe that sexual interactions always lead to love but ultimately leave them with a greater void.
Minot explains how “after sex, you curl up like a shrimp, something deep inside you ruined.” The narrator goes from feeling content with her actions to reflecting on them. She realizes she is not happy and is ashamed and confused on why she continues to have these relationships that are detrimental to her overall wellbeing. As the narrator lies down to sleep with a guy after having sex, she says “and feel yourself become a cave, filled absolutely with air, or with a sadness that wouldn’t stop.” The way the men used to look at her is not there anymore because they already received what they were looking for. The narrator soon realizes that her pattern of sleeping with guys with not lead to love.
On page 272, Minot writes “You wonder how long you can keep it up. You begin to feel as if you’re showing through, like a bathroom window that only lets in grey light, the kind you can’t see out of. The main character wonders how long she can keep having sex with different men especially after she thought “I could have loved that one.” She had been enjoying a party and dancing with a guy who, after they had sex, disappeared from her life forever. The main character is yearning for the love and happiness that Mrs.Gunther and Mr. Gunther have experienced since high school.
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Even Mrs. Gunther admits that women “need to deliver something to men” but she states that it is a woman’s job to deliver “babies” to men not just sexual actions. The fact that Mr. Gunther was Mrs. Gunther’s high school sweetheart discourages the main character because she is already 15 whereas Mrs. Gunther and Mr. Gunther were married by the age of 18. The main character is also discouraged by the fact that Mrs. Gunther had only had sex with one person her whole life, whereas the narrator had been with many and had still not found love.
The main character feels as if she disappears from the minds of the men she is with after she has sex with them. Minot explains “You do everything they want. Then comes after. After when they don’t look at you.” She then ends this thought with “You’re gone . Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared.” Before, the main character engages in sexual activities with the guy she feels as if there is some hope for her and the guy but after they have sex she soon realizes that she is just a memory in the man’s life. The main character feels terrible about the choices she is making but continues to make these choices in hopes of finding raw, passionate love.
Theme plays a large role in the development of the short story titled “Lust” by Susan Minot. Although “Lust” was published in 1984 it still underlines the alarming behavior of young girls to this day. The most prominent theme seen throughout the entirety of this short story is that people believe that sexual interactions will lead to love which is not always the case, sometimes these interactions lead to a greater void in the person than before.
Works Cited
- Minot, Susan. “Style,Tone, and Irony.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature : Reading, Thinking, Writing, by Michael Meyer, 11th ed., Bedford/St. Martins, 2012, pp. 268–273.
